Even with the Heat on, this one could be special

Philadelphia's pro basketball team visits Boston with a chance to post franchise's biggest win in more than a decade

May 25, 2012|Keith Groller

The Miami Heat are going to win the NBA's Eastern Conference title.

So, in a sense, the Game 7 being played at TD Garden tonight between the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics may be one of the most anti-climatic, series-deciding games in either franchise's proud history.

If the previous six games played over the past two weeks between these two teams have proven anything, it's that both clubs are too flawed and inconsistent offensively to beat the Heat four times, unless LeBron or D-Wade crumble the way the Bulls' Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah did in the first round.

But Game 7s are still the most compelling non-football events in professional sports and even though you know how it's going to ultimately end, both the Sixers and Celtics and their fan bases would love this postseason to live on for at least another four games.

For the Celtics, a win tonight would mean one last moment of glory for the "New Big Three" that now is on the verge of becoming quite old.

For the Sixers, a victory would mean another major stepping stone for an emerging franchise under new ownership. It would mean a trip to the conference finals for the first time since the peak of the Iverson Era in 2001 and just the third time since Moses, Doc, and Mo ran out of L.A.'s Forum with the championship on the final day of May in 1983.

There's little doubt what the TV people want.

They want name recognition and that means the Celtics, who offer the most famous brand in basketball, and at least three, possibly four, marquee players who even the most casual NBA fan recognizes without doing a Google search.

Celtics-Heat would probably generate more viewers than any potential finals matchup, although no matter who LeBron takes his talents against, large numbers of folks will have a rooting interest in the other team.

The Sixers have foiled plans for a coveted Bulls-Heat Eastern final and now could ruin what TV execs would regard as the next best thing.

They have been the surprise guests in this playoff party, the guys who snuck in the backdoor without an ID and now refuse to go home even when told they don't belong.

These young, fresh-faced Sixers have been playing with house money for nearly a month now and they'll roll the dice one more time tonight against long odds.

Few people expect the Sixers to win, understandably so. Boston is 17-4 lifetime in Game 7s at home, the Sixers are 1-5 in Game 7s on the road with the one win coming in Boston 30 yeas ago.

That, however, was a very different 76ers team, one with several future Hall of Famers who were carrying expectations the size of Darryl Dawkins on their backs.

The Celtics have the star power, the home crowd, the title banners hanging in the rafters and a big-game pedigree on their side. They always seem to respond when their backs are pressed firmly against the proverbial wall.

It's no wonder that Vegas has established Boston as a 51/2 point favorite.

But the Sixers match up well with the Celtics and have won five of nine games, counting the regular season. Had they not let Game 1 slip away in the final minutes, they could be spending this weekend in South Beach instead of Beantown.

As well as the Sixers played at times on Wednesday night, they will have to play much better in Game 7.

They can't expect Boston to shoot just 33.3 percent from the field, manage just 14 assists or 16 points in the paint.

They can't expect Celtics catalyst Rajon Rondo to shoot 4-for-14, log just nine points or distribute a mere six assists.

And you can expect Boston, even without Avery Bradley whose bad left shoulder has shut him down, to do a better job against the 76ers guards like Jrue Holiday, Lou Williams and Evan Turner who flourish in the open court.

Tempo is paramount. The Sixers must push the pace or else you could see another stretch of nine straight misses from the field as you saw in the second quarter of Game 6. And this time such a drought would prove fatal.

Sixers boss Doug Collins, who may be the best head coach or manager working in Philly these days, said his team needs to show up not happy just to be there.

"I am not going to give them that out," he said Wednesday night. "I want more. I don't want to go into this game with them the feeling that 'no matter what happens, everything's OK.' I want them to go into this with the idea of seeing what we can do to get us a win."